Swingable guideways for propelling a rollable device

ABSTRACT

A game including two vertically swingable guideways mounted on a common base. The players send a rolling device back and forth from one guideway to the other, each trying to drive the device over the end of his opponent&#39;&#39;s guideway and to stop the device just before it reaches the end of his own. The guideways may be of flexible material, but are preferably rigid, with detent means to limit their upward travel.

United States Patent Nania [4 1 Oct. 10, 1972 [54] SWINGABLE GUIDEWAYS FOR 562,264 6/1896 Wilcox ..273/1 10 PROPELLING A ROLLABLE DEVICE 2,862,333 12/1958 Gardiol ..46/ 202 [72] lnvenm ,222 15 1?? 22 Primary Examiner-Richard c. Pinkham Assistant Examiner-Marvin Siskind [22] Filed: Nov. 3, 1969 Attomey-Hoffman Stone [21] Appl. No.i 873,534 [57] ABSTRACT A game including two vertically swingable guideways [52] US. Cl.... ..273/l10, 273/109, 273/120 R, mounted on a common base. The players send a 46/43 rolling device back and forth from one guideway to [51] Int. Cl. ..A63b 71/04 h pthggzsagh n i drive the devicepver the end Fleld o'f l 10, of opponent's guideway and to top the device just R, 86 (21 202 before it reaches the end of his own. The guideways may be of flexible material, but are preferably rigid, [56] References Cited with detent means to limit their upward travel.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 3 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures 2,655,116 10/1953 Gowland ...273/86 C T companying drawing,wherein:.

swINcxDLE cuIDEwAYs FOR PROPELLING A ROLLABLE DEVICE BRIEF DESCRIPTION This invention relates to a novel game of the to-andfro type, in which the-article in play is subject to control by only one player, or side at a time, and which tends to develop quickness of eye and reflex, and judgement of motion and inertia.

Briefly, the apparatus according to the presently preferred embodiment of the invention comprises two aligned, vertically swingable'guideways, or chutes attached to a common support in end-to-end alignment with each other, and a rollable device such as a ball, or a toy vehicle, which servesas the article in play. The object of they game is to receive the article in ones own guideway, control the elevation of the guideway so that the article approaches'its outer end as closely as possible without passing beyond, and then, by rapidly raising the guideway,to return the article to the opponent with enough energy to cause itto roll over the end of his guideway.

The guideways maybe flexible and integrally joined together at their inner ends, but they are preferably rigid, and detents are provided to limit their upward travel. They may be shaped totrap the article in play against escape, except over their outer ends, but development of skill will be better fostered if the outer portion, say about at least one-half the length of each guideway,is shaped not to trap the article. Thus, if a player raises his guideway too enthusiastically, he may fling the article out and lose the point.

DETAILED. DESCRIPTION Representative embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail in connectionwith FIG. 1 is a side elevation'al viewof game apparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention; FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view on an enlarged scale of theapparatus shown in FIG. 1, taken along the line 22-thereof, and showing a vehicular article of play on theguideway; y r I FIG. 3 is afragmentary, side elevational'view, partly in section, of a .tmand-fro game apparatus according to a modified form of the invention; Y

FIG. 4 is a plan view on an enlarged scale and wit parts broken away of the apparatus shown in FIG. 3; .and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, longitudinal, sectional view showing the-pivot arrangement of the guideways of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

FLEXIBLE GUIDEWAYS port 14, which is heavy enough to remain on the-floor or table during play. The inner portions 16 and 17 of the guideways, as shown,,are of reentrant cross-sectional shape to trap the article of play 20. The outer portions 21 and 22, however, are preferably of nonthe acreentrant cross-section to allow escape of the article 20 out of the guideway upwardly from its bottom. The guideways l0 and 11 are open at both ends, and handles 28 and 29 are secured at their outer ends. The handles 28 and 29 are preferably arranged to discourage the players from extending fingers over the outer ends of the guidewaysin an effort to block the escape of the article 20.

In play, the article 20, which may be any sort of rollable device such as a ball, or the toy automobile illustrated, is placed in one of the guideways 10 and 11. Each player is assigned one guideway and manipulates it, raising and lowering its outer end, and touching only the handle 28 or 29. When the article 20 approaches the end of his guideway, the player raises his guideway rapidly to return the article 20 to his opponent at maximum speed. He must be careful, however, not to be too quick, else he will throw the article 20 out of his guideway, thereby losing the point. He must also endeavor to let the article 20 approach as closely as possible to. the outer end of his guideway to maximize its acceleration on the return. But, if he misjudges and allows the article to overshoot his guideway, he loses the point also.

ln'this form of the game, the guideways 10 and 11' may be flexible enough to enable a player to play defensively, striving only to avoid loss of a point by bending his guideway upwardly and inwardly so far that the article 20 is positively stopped. Therefore, the flexibility of the guideways l0 and 11 is preferably selected in view of the weight of the article 20 and of the base 14 to limit the extent to which they can be raised without lifting the base from the floor or table. A player may then be charged with the loss of a point if he raises the base 14 while his opponents guideway is at rest position.

RIGID GUIDEWAYS I endalignment on a common base 34; The base 34 is shaped todefine an intermediate, fixed guideway portion 36 between the two swingable guideways 30 and 31, so that the article in play,-shown here as a ball 38, is guided continuously between the outer ends of the two guideways 30 and 31.

In this form of the invention, detents are provided to limit the upward swing of the guideways 30 and 3l. As shown, the detents are constituted by shoulder portions 40 on the base 34, which lie under the pivots 42 and 43 and extend laterally outwardly beyond the side walls (not separately designated) of the guideways. The inner ends of the side walls are beveled, as shown in FIG. 5, to engage the shoulder portions 40 when the guideways are raised to the design limit position. The nature of the detent arrangement is not critical in the practice of the invention, and the detents may even be omitted if desired. Some sort of detent is preferred, however, to encourage aggressive play as explained hereinabove.

The embodiment of FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 also includes an alternative arrangement of the outer ends of the guideways, and an alternative type of handle 46. in the arrangement as shown, the side walls of the guideways extend beyond their floors and a cover 48 is secured 2. Apparatus for ato-and-fro game comprising: across the extended portions of the side walls to insure a. a base, against manual interference with the article of play 38. b. a pair of rigid mutually swingable guideways What is claimed is: pivotted on said base in end-to-end alignment with 1. Apparatus forato-and-fro game comprising: 5 each other, said base being centrally positioned a. a base, relative to the longitudinal extent of said b. a pair of flexible, mutually similar guideways guideway I secured to said base and in end-to-end alignment 6- Said guideways normally extending generally with each other, said base being centrally posia ly y 'f Said base, plvotally tioned relative to the longitudinal extent of said 10 camllevenng each g y to Said base 50 that guideways. the guideway can be swung above but not below c. said guideways lying along a common straight line Said normal f y horizontal Position, f

and being sufficiently flexible so as to allow either a ronable article of P y fittable m Sald guldeways one of them to bend without bending of the other for travel therealoflgas it is swung out of the common straight line inde- 'f accordlllg f 2 further 3 pendent), f the other, and detent arrangement to limit the pivoting motion of said d. a rollable article of play fittable in said guideways guldeways towards each Otherfor travel therealong. 

1. Apparatus for a to-and-fro game comprising: a. a base, b. a pair of flexible, mutually similar guideways secured to said base and in end-to-end alignment with each other, said base being centrally positioned relative to the longitudinal extent of said guideways. c. said guideways lying along a common straight line and being sufficiently flexible so as to allow either one of them to bend without bending of the other as it is swung out of the common straight line independently of the other, and d. a rollable article of play fittable in said guideways for travel therealong.
 2. Apparatus for a to-and-fro game comprising: a. a base, b. a pair of rigid mutually swingable guideways pivotted on said base in end-to-end alignment with each other, said base being centrally positioned relative to the longitudinal extent of said guideways, c. said guideways normally extending generally horizontally away from said base, means pivotally cantilevering each guideway to said base so that the guideway can be swung above but not below said normal generally horizontal position, and d. a rollable article of play fittable in said guideways for travel therealong.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 2 further including a detent arrangement to limit the pivoting motion of said guideways towards each other. 